‘Little things’ driving Australia’s golden generation of athletics stars

Armed with the largest team ever assembled for a major athletics meet, Australia enters the World Athletics Championships with a sense of excitement.

Many Australian eyes will be focused on schoolboy sprinting sensation Gout Gout when he lines up for his heat in the men’s 200 metres on Wednesday, September 17.

The 17-year-old is a major drawcard at this year’s championships, but he is just one of a swathe of young Australians who are making waves in world athletics.

Of the 87-member squad picked by Australian Athletics for the championships in Tokyo, 21 of the athletes are aged 21 or younger.

Gout is joined by fellow young sprinters Torrie Lewis and Caleb Law, while Lachlan Kennedy — who ran a sub-10-second 100m in May — had to withdraw from the championships with a back injury.

Middle-distance runners Cameron Myers, Claudia Hollingsworth and Peyton Craig, long jumper Delta Amidzovski and race walker Elizabeth McMillen are also athletes 21 or younger who will wear the green and gold in Tokyo.

They may not all be household names yet but, if they follow their current trajectories, many can be.

It is the job of Australian Athletics head of high performance Andrew Faichney to get the best out of this group and give them the maximum opportunity to succeed internationally.

“I think that we have got an extraordinary generation of athletes that are coming through,” Faichney told ABC Sport.

“Their performances are really, really good at such a young age.”

Veteran running coach Nic Bideau has been around long enough to know that this is a generational group of young athletes.

“I’ve been involved in athletics at that top level since the 90s, through a long time, and I’ve never seen it so good,” Bideau told ABC Sport.

Gout is ranked the 16th best men’s 200m sprinter in the world, and Kennedy has the same rank in the men’s 100m.

Myers, 19, has already set a men’s national record in the mile and has the junior indoor world records for the 1,500m and mile.

Amidzovski, 19, won gold in the women’s long jump and bronze in the 100m hurdles at last year’s World Athletics Under 20 Championships in Lima. Men’s 800m runner Craig, 20, won silver in Lima and made the semifinals at the Paris Olympics.

Last year’s under-20 championships were Australia’s best ever, with the team winning a total of 14 medals.

Faichney told ABC Sport said preparation was the key to Australia’s success in Lima, and it led to magnificent results.

“We put a real focus in preparing our athletes as the best that they could be and we went in probably the best prepared I would say of all of the countries,” Faichney said.

“Individually, each of them are fantastic athletes, and I think what we’re trying to do is set up a system and a program which is going to enable them and their coaches to do the best that they can.”

These rising stars on the track join Australia’s established performers, who won seven medals at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Nina Kennedy, who has withdrawn from the World Championships due to injury, won gold in the women’s pole vault. Jessica Hull (women’s 1,500m) and Nicola Olyslagers (women’s high jump) won silver medals.

Jemima Montag (women’s 20km race walk), Montag/Rhydian Cowley (relay race walk) Eleanor Patterson (women’s high jump) and Matthew Denny (men’s discuss) won bronze to complete the most successful track and field outing for Australia since the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.

Those athletes can all be expected to compete for medals at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 and some will still be around for Brisbane in 2032.

Faichney said that experienced group would be complemented by the young stars, who by then would be in their prime.

“I think over the next seven or eight years, we’re going to have fantastic success in the major championships through that whole group of our athletes,” Faichney said.

Nic Bideau coached Cathy Freeman and Olympians Stewart McSweyn and Genevieve Gregson, and is currently coaching world championship selections Georgia Griffiths and Sarah Billings.

He said Australia’s success was due to “lots of little things”.

“It’s never just one magical reason that’s causing it,” he said.

Bideau cited the changing demographics of Australia, increased professionalism, better coaching and high-performance support, and the chance to compete at the Brisbane Olympics as some of the reasons why we were seeing more young athletes competing on the world stage.

Then there are the intangible ingredients like the belief that comes from seeing others succeed.

Competition and Brisbane 2032 spurring on Australia’s rising stars

Torrie Lewis is ranked 17th in the women’s 200m and is a four-time national champion at just 20.

She is part of this current crop of late teens and early-20s athletes who are inspiring each other to greater ambitions, with the lure of a home Olympics.

“It’s almost like we’re pushing each other, like, ‘If I can do it, you can do it too,’ and giving each other confidence,” Lewis said.

Lewis recalled then 18-year-old Calab Law making the semifinals of the men’s 200m at the 2022 World Championships as a moment when fellow athletes inspired her to believe.

“I remember watching that like, ‘Oh my God. That’s crazy, like so good.’ Then you think you can also do it as well,” she said.

The younger athletes’ success is pushing them, and their Australian teammates, to higher levels of competition and performance. 

It has created an environment that breeds success, according to Bideau.

“It used to be that if you were a good athlete, it wasn’t that difficult to make the Australian team,” Bideau said.

“Now you can be a world-class athlete capable of winning Diamond League races, like Linden Hall is, and still be up again back against the wall to try and make the Australian team.

“If you are on the Australian team, the expectation now is that you’re good enough to make the final.”

While Australia’s young crop have been motivated and inspired by their peers, the athletes are also taking responsibility for their performance.

According to Faichney, the current generation are all highly driven and high achievers.

“It’s such an individual sport, so you have to be so intrinsically motivated to be at the very top level,” Faichney said.

“There’s a number of athletes that we’ve had over the over the journey who, for varying reasons, probably had talent that could have taken them a little bit further, but other impacts in their life, whether that be injury, whether that be life circumstances, whether that be motivational factors, mean that they don’t quite get there.”

The Tokyo World Championships is just the first step in the journey that culminates in LA in 2028, but it may also be the moment that Australian athletics truly takes centre stage.